Isabel Hardesty is newest Horizons board member

CHESTERTOWN — Isabel Hardesty has joined the board of Horizons of Kent & Queen Anne’s, a Chestertown-based nonprofit that provides academic and enrichment opportunities for under-resourced students in grades pre-K to 8.

Her appointment to the board was announced in a Dec. 9 news release.

Hardesty’s professional background includes 18 years of experience in environmental community engagement and clean water advocacy.

From 2011 to earlier this year, she was with ShoreRivers where she advanced the mission to protect and restore local rivers and waterways with an inclusive vision of the future.

She recently stepped down after five years as executive director of ShoreRivers, and is now a leadership and strategic planning consultant for Due East Partners in Annapolis.

Prior to joining ShoreRivers, Hardesty worked for Ocean Conservancy in Washington, D.C.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University.

Hardesty is “deeply invested in the community, and her insight and expertise will be instrumental in expanding Horizons’ reach and fostering partnerships with key stakeholders,” the news release states. 

Kate Goodall Gray, board president of Horizons, said Hardesty’s “expertise and dedication to our community will undoubtedly strengthen our organization and help us create even greater opportunities for the students and families we serve.”

Horizons of Kent County was established in 1995, one of the very first Horizons National affiliates.

The program expanded to Queen Anne’s County in 2014.

According to a news release, Horizons advances educational equity and prevents systemic summer slide by building long-term partnerships with students, families, communities and schools to close the opportunity gap and end the cycle of poverty in Kent and Queen Anne’s counties.

For six weeks in the summer, Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne’s offers a tuition-free academic and enrichment program for elementary and middle school students living in under-resourced communities.

About 230 students enrolled at three sites this past summer — Kent School, pre-K to grade 5; The Gunston School in Centreville, kindergarten to grade 5; and Washington College, grades 6, 7 and 8.